The Sleepover Gone Wrong

Chapter 4

Chapter 4

The light of the phone shined on the bloody, scarred face of the man-- creature, who stood before us. We turned but he grabbed us all at once, lifted us up, and threw us on the ground. My, he had the strength of a bull. He chased us to the far back of the forest. Then we heard familiar voices calling us; "Sky! Gen! Kat!" Repeatedly. I couldn't help but call back.

"Over here!" Screamed. The fright in my voice was easily detectable. Then we heard another scream.not of our names, though. A tortured scream an ear-pinching scream. A murderous scream. Oh my God, I thought. It's Melissa. It was her. I just knew it. I turned around, and about 20 feet away, tied to a tree, was nonetheless Melissa. I was about to call for her when tape was slapped onto my face and my wrists were itching with the burn of the charred rope.

I was slammed against a tree, my head pounding from the pain. I tried to call out an s suddenly I couldn't breathe. I was falling, and the forest went black.

****

I woke up. I was still in the woods. I looked up. Melissa wasn't there. I had never found out about the other girls, maybe they were in a farther part of the forest. I looked behind me. The rope had gotten loose. I hurt to smile, but I did. I yanked myself from the tree and ripped the tape off my mouth. That was least amount of pain I had went through since yesterday. I looked around and heard a squeal. "Gen!" I called. I ran over, untied her, and gently took the tape off of her mouth.

"Theman...he'sgone...hetook, UGH!" She was running out of breath and talking a mile a minute.

"Okay, take a deep breath," I assured her. "And THEN talk."

She took several deep breaths, one would've lost count if they had measured how many times she had breathed. "Okay," she swallowed and continued; "That man, he took Melissa, I would've stopped him, but it was impossible. I could've handled the pain of the rope; I just couldn't escape. He went that way," she pointed.

"Thanks," I said in return. I ran towards the direction she was pointing to. I kept running, and then I heard an engine revving. I ran to the left and jumped on front of the car. It swerved, dodging me by an inch. I chased the car, and he pushed full gas. I heard a thump and a squeal of pain from the back. "Melissaaaaa!" I screamed. I couldn't help but keep running. I didn't care about running about of breath, or drinking water. My tongue was drying and I felt a cold chill in my lungs from the not so beautiful winter morning..... At least not anymore.

He turned a sharp curve and I turned with it. I finally couldn't take it anymore, and I collapsed on the cold, tar road. I had lost my way home. Then I remembered. Melissa's mother probably went to heck on us and when she realized we weren't there, called the police. Just as my thought ended, a flashing police car came my way. The men rushed out of the car, lifted me up, and looked at me with disturbed looks.

"Sweetie," one had said. "What happened? You are so flushed and you look like you have 2 black eyes."

"Well," I began, gasping for breath. I didn't dare ask for water. "My friend, Melissa is her name, she was on her phone and some random guy texted her..." I started, and ended within five minutes.

"What were you doing out here?" Another cop asked.

"I was chasing the car my friend was in." The men looked around at each other, and then me.

"Do you remember the color? Type? License plate number?" The first man wondered.

"Um, a black SUV, I think." I said. "And the number..." I trailed off in thought. "J.... K..... L? Yeah, L. And um.... R, Y, I can't remember the rest. I'm sorry. I tried. I really did."

"We know, sweetie." The man called me again.

"Can I have some.... Water? Please?" A man rushed to the car, flings open the door and slams it shut once he finds what he had been looking for. He rushed back to me and handed me a room-temperature bottle of water. I ripped the cap off and gulped half the bottle in less than a 30-second period. The officers looked at me amazed. "I'm sorry," I said, sympathetically. "I haven't had water in about 30 hours."

"No, no, sweetie. It's alright. We'll take you back home and then find your friend, okay?" He assured me.

"No," I said. "I want to go look for my other friends. They're probably still in the woods."

"I'll go with her," the cop who got me the water said.

"Alright, Briggs. Meet you at the station."

"Gotcha." He replied. We hustled off into the woods. Realizing I still had the water bottle in my hands, I gulped once more.

"So," Briggs said, trying to make conversation. "Your poor friends. I can't help but wonder who that man was."

"Me too." I said. I didn't really know what else to say.

"I think I do."

Before I could say anything, he put me in a half-Nelson and covered my mouth. He was working with the thief. The cruel-hearted animal. I couldn't help but punch him in the gut. I ran away, towards the house. I've been in these woods before, so I knew them well. Then I remembered the empty shed. It was about 40 meters from the house. I could outrun him, hide there until he left, and run into the house. That was plan A. Now I need a plan B.